Disclaimer: Characters belong to Sunrise.
I would like to say a SM or FLT chapter is coming soon, but that would be lying. Instead, I wrote this one after listening to a friend freak out about organizing rush events.
Enjoy!
"Natsuki Kruger! Wake up!" Mai Tokiha, her former roommate, yelled as she entered the apartment. She came by to drop off her key to the living space—despite moving out about nine months ago. Returning the key wasn't high on her priority list since Natsuki never asked for it.
"I am trying to take a nap here!" Natsuki shouted from her room, voice muffled by the comforter.
Mai leaned against the room's doorframe with a smirk. "Open house starts in an hour," she said casually, knowing full well Natsuki was going to slip into panic mode very soon.
"Oh, shit!" Natsuki leapt out of bed and slammed the bathroom door shut. A slew of profanities could be heard over the rushing water. Mai chuckled at her absentminded friend.
Natsuki, a sophomore at Garderobe University, was gearing up for the nerve-racking Fall Recruitment week where she and the sororities will be mutually sizing up one another. By the end of the week, she'll hopefully receive a bid to join Mai's sorority, Sigma Epsilon Chi Psi, better known as the "sexy" sisters on campus. Mai used to be Natsuki's roommate until the girl rushed last fall and got accepted. She moved into the sorority house before spring semester started.
Mai often spoke about the joys of being in a sorority: forging amazing friendships, attending great socials, giving back to the community, and networking with tons of other organizations. Natsuki could see the long-term benefits that being part of a sisterhood could mean for her personal and professional life. As a twentysomething, she was currently more invested in the former but the latter was never far from her mind. She knew she made the right decision when a news article crowned Garderobe's sorority sisters as not only the hottest but also the brightest in the country.
Forty minutes later, Natsuki and Mai were out of the apartment, walking toward the area where all of the sorority houses were located.
"Jesus Christ, there's going to be a crap load of girls rushing."
"Yep! So, if I didn't come by to drop off my key, you would have missed open house," Mai remarked.
"I know! Love you Mai!" Natsuki leaned in to kiss her cheek, but she was playfully shoved away. Natsuki laughed with abandon.
Mai shook her head. "You can play kiss ass when you're with the sisters. You know, it's actually against the rules for me to be talking to you since you're a PNM."
"What the hell is that?"
"Potential New Member," Mai muttered, eyes sweeping over the tons of girls walking ahead of them. "Hey, I have to split now. Have to prepare for wannabes like you!"
Natsuki chuckled and watched her friend weave through the massive throng to her sorority house. Garderobe had two top sororities that Natsuki had her eye on and a string of minor ones she didn't care much about joining. The Sigmas were her number one choice of course, and her second choice was Eta Omicron Tau. Mai laughed her ass off when Natsuki told her she was shooting for either the "sexy" or "hot" sisters.
The sophomore met up with her Recruitment Counselor and group. She got her nametag and walked to the first house where the huge Greek letters, ΣEXΨ, hung above the massive double doors. A redhead wearing a shirt with "I AM ΣEXΨ" emblazoned on the front ushered them into the abode.
Once they were in the spacious living room, the girl chirped, "Welcome to the sexiest sorority!" About thirty sisters were present, donning the same shirt as her.
Current members bombarded the rushees, evaluating them to see whether they deserve an invitation back. Natsuki saw Mai and made a beeline for her, but a sister with chestnut hair and crimson eyes stopped her advance.
"Hello, Natsuki Kruger," she said with a warm smile and held out her hand. "I'm Shizuru Viola."
Whoa, the president of the sorority has a freakin' accent! So goddamn hot! She's gorgeous as hell, too! Natsuki knew she was the president from her picture on the sorority's website. She shook her hand and grazed her thumb over the back of girl's palm. It was common knowledge among the Greek crowd and those interested in it that Shizuru batted for the girls' team. "Hello, Shizuru Viola," she replied smoothly, giving the hand a light squeeze.
Shizuru quirked a brow. "Tell me, do you think you're 'sexy' material?" she teased.
Natsuki leaned in close to her ear and purred, "I don't know, but you definitely are."
Ara, ara. Do these girls really think hitting on me will get them to the next round or even win a bid? Every other girl would have rolled her eyes at the corny pick-up line, but Shizuru possessed superior self-control and was a skilled actress. She politely smiled. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."
"Shizuru, who do you have here?" The redhead from earlier joined them.
"Natsuki Kruger, meet Nao Zhang."
The girls exchanged their greetings.
"So, are we your top choice?" Nao asked, scanning Natsuki from head to toe. The provided recruitment T-shirt looked phenomenal on the rushee, fitting snugly on the girl in all the right places. The shirt was navy in color, matching her lengthy locks. She wore cuffed denim shorts that revealed long, lean legs.
"Maybe," she answered coyly.
"Oh, playing hard to get, are you? Might bite you in the ass in tonight's voting…"
Natsuki visibly blanched. Shit! Did I go too far?
"Nao…" Shizuru gave the redhead a warning glare. Prior to the PNMs' arrival, Shizuru wanted the sisters to make all of the rushees feel welcomed while they were in house of "sexy". Nao wasn't doing a very good job of it.
"Just kidding!" The redhead promptly scampered away.
I don't see much potential here. "Um, enjoy the rest of the open house." Shizuru quickly moved to the other rushees.
What just happened? I thought she was feeling me! Natsuki couldn't dwell on it for long because several more members approached her. She tried to leave a good impression on them, so they would remember her out of the hundreds of girls they'll be talking to later.
The Recruitment Counselor announced it was time to visit the next house. Natsuki bid farewell to the girls she was chatting with and tried to look for Shizuru, but she could not find her anywhere. The RC found the straggler in the kitchen and dragged her out of the house, causing some members to laugh. She winked to them.
At least they'll remember me.
The Eta Omicron Tau house was smaller than the previous one, but they had just as colossal Greek letters hanging above the door, except theirs read HOT. Two girls wearing a "HOTties for Life" shirt greeted the group at the entrance. Natsuki was psyched about meeting the girls from her second choice sorority but found herself feeling disappointed. There wasn't anything wrong with them—they lived up to their moniker and appeared to be fun girls—but she found them to be lacking a certain something or someone.
Natsuki laughed and played the part of an interested PNM, but her mind kept drifting back to the brief encounter with one, Shizuru Viola. She didn't want to admit it, but she sort of had an accent fetish. The girl's Kyoto-ben drove her absolutely nuts. That and the fact that she was smoking hot made her unforgettable in Natsuki's book. The sophomore clearly harbored a tiny crush on the "sexy" sister. Superficial aspects aside, Natsuki was impressed by the way Shizuru scared off the redhead with a single withering glance. Not many people can pull it off to the point of causing the recipient to scamper away. Mai tried it before, and Natsuki laughed her ass off. Luckily, Natsuki was one of those people who shared Shizuru's awesome ability.
The meet and greet at the other ten sorority houses was a blur to Natsuki since she wasn't into them in the first place, but it was mandatory that the PNMs visit every house. She was relieved when the RC rounded them up to head to the Crystal Hall for the girls to select the sororities they wanted to visit again. They could choose a maximum of nine, but for Natsuki, one was enough. She was a confident she made a great impression on the Sigmas. A nagging voice in her head yelled at her for not naming a second one just in case ΣEXΨ doesn't select her as well. A mutual selection was required for the PNM to continue her quest of joining a sorority. To Natsuki, this just meant she needed to work extra hard to ensure her invitations to the Sigma house kept on coming day after day.
Natsuki dropped her preference sheet into the locked box and made her way back to her apartment. It was dusk by the time she arrived home. If this was any other week, she would be getting ready to go out, but during rush week, it was frowned upon if PNMs were spotted in a club. She didn't understand why, but the RC said to avoid the club scene during this crucial period, and Mai told her the same thing as well. She knew better than to ignore their warning.
She changed into cotton shorts and a tank top, her usual attire at home. Natsuki played video games for a bit but got bored with it after an hour. She realized she hadn't checked her email yet and turned on her laptop. Twenty unread emails, but the bulk was school-related, save for one. It was a Facebook notification that someone requested to be her friend. She clicked on the email, and it turned out to be one of the girls in her recruiting group. She thought the girl was pretty cool, so she accepted the request.
The cursor arrow coincidentally hovered around the search box, and on a whim, she typed in Shizuru Viola and pressed enter.
Gotta love Facebook stalking—totally legal and generally accepted by 500 million users.
Twenty seconds later, she gasped when she saw Shizuru's image. Oh, snap! She's on Facebook! Why didn't I do this earlier?
Natsuki clicked on the name and was brought to the girl's profile page. She clicked on the picture to see it clearer and wasn't disappointed at all. It was a candid photo of Shizuru looking up from her book, pleasantly surprised by the camera. Her hair was pulled messily into a bun, with a few loose strands of metallic gold framing her face. She wore a white v-neck and black shorts. Natsuki thought she'd never seen anyone look so stunning while completely dressed down before. She imagined how she would react if those to-die-for crimson eyes smiled because of her.
Who am I kidding? I'd blush like crazy and then faint from the blood rush.
She perused Shizuru's Info section and discovered the girl's zodiac sign was Sagittarius since she listed her birthday as December 19th. Not usually one who believed in astrology, but burning curiosity led Natsuki to conduct a quick search to see if Sagittarius and Leo were compatible. She really hoped so! A broad grin spread across her face as she learned the two signs were a very good match, with the possibility of maturing into a long-term love.
She returned to the girl's profile and noticed Shizuru put her status as single but didn't complete the "Interested In" field.
I didn't either because I don't want people I knew way back in grade school to know everything about me now. And there could be someone stalking my page like how I'm stalking Shizuru's right now—a stranger gathering intelligence on her target. Ha ha! I sound like a secret agent.
Natsuki spent the rest of the night browsing through Mai's photo albums to see if the president popped up anywhere since the girl had restricted access to her own albums. Much to her delight, Shizuru appeared in multiple albums. Again, Natsuki chastised herself for not bothering to view the images sooner. Natsuki almost forgot the essential act of breathing when she laid eyes on Shizuru in her sparring gear—minus the helmet—staring straight into the camera, striking a fierce pose with her naginata. The caption simply read, "Samurai Shizuru. She will kick your ass and then some."
Natsuki felt a flicker of masochism streak across her body.
The sisters of Sigma Epsilon Chi Psi gathered in the living room, in deep discussion of which PNMs they wanted to invite back for tomorrow's round.
"I say HELL NO to that girl!" Nao vigorously shook her head back and forth. "I got a bad vibe from her." Several other girls agreed with the redhead.
"For real! Bitch was not answering any of my questions. She kept glancing at Shizuru like every five seconds! It was so annoying and kind of disturbing, you guys!" cried a blonde girl by the name of Haruka.
"Watch out, Shizuru," Mai warned. "Chick sounds creepy. I bet if you beat her off with your naginata, she'd like it." Sitting on a sofa opposite from Mai's, Shizuru threw a cushion at her, but Mai swatted it away before it could land on her face. She stuck her tongue out, triggering chuckles around the room.
"So no invitation for Tomoe Marguerite." A girl with glasses threw Tomoe's application in the rejected pile.
"Who's next, Yukino?" asked Nao.
Yukino pushed up her glasses and picked up the last application. "Natsuki Kruger."
Mai tried to remain calm when her former roommate's name was called. She really wanted Natsuki to make it to the next round, but she was only one vote. A rushee needed at least fifteen votes to advance. There were forty members, but only twenty-five participated in recruitment. Some were still vacationing since school had yet to begin.
Haruka glanced at the picture attached to the application and laughed out loud, catching the members' attention. "I remember this girl! She was in the first group, and the RC had to literally drag her out the door."
Looks of realization dawned on some of the girls who witnessed the scene.
"Oh, yeah!"
"She seemed pretty cool."
"I liked her."
Mai was secretly jumping for joy at the positive feedback.
"She hit on me," Shizuru yawned. It was a little past eleven, but Shizuru was feeling pooped from the socializing marathon. She wanted to this meeting to end like an hour ago.
Mai's celebration came to a screeching halt after that little revelation. Damn it, Natsuki! Out of all the sisters—the president? Really?
"Big whoop," Nao snorted. "Everyone hits on you. Alright, hands up if—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Shizuru interrupted the vote, sitting up straight, with questioning scarlet orbs. "We automatically eliminate girls who blatantly make a pass at me because it's a display of poor character. Not to mention it gets on my nerves every single time. So, why is she any different?"
"Because she's got the triple Bs: brains, beauty, and the balls to hit on you on the first day of rush—major balls right there." The sisters giggled, agreeing with Nao because as rush wound down, the PNMs would engage in last ditch efforts to secure a bid, including attempting to seduce the Sigmas' lady-loving leader.
Shizuru got a hold of Natsuki's application form and looked at her grade point average, scoffing, "Okay, she's average and the same goes for her looks. I still don't understand the special treatment."
"I don't understand why you're so against her moving on. Yeah, it was kind of inappropriate, but at least she's upfront about her intentions. Marguerite was just super creepy," Haruka defended the sophomore. "Besides, Kruger was the only one I talked to who didn't pull any bullshit with me."
"She was straightforward with me, too. I like her spirit," Yukino added.
"I think she's joining for all of the wrong reasons—namely, to get into my pants." Shizuru said flatly.
"I assure you that's not the case!" Mai wasn't planning on speaking up since she was biased, but she felt she had to set the record straight that Natsuki was serious about joining. She, too, initially questioned her friend's intentions, so she got the girl drunk to lure the truth out of her. A drunken Natsuki was a very honest Natsuki. Mai's doubts were laid to rest for good.
"How do you know that for sure?" Shizuru inquired, with hints of irritation in her voice.
I promised Natsuki I wasn't going to say anything, but desperate times call for desperate measures! "I knew her since high school, and she was… my roommate you guys never saw."
The ones who had visited Mai's former residence were wide-eyed.
"No wonder her address is so familiar!" Haruka cried. "Why didn't you tell us before?"
"I was going to but Natsuki said she wanted to get a bid on her own 'merit and charms'—her words."
This girl seems like trouble, but I respect her for wanting Mai to keep us in the dark. I hate people who name drop to get ahead. It's so gauche. But this bit of news brings up new questions. Shizuru folded her arms across her chest, cocking her head sideways."How come we never saw her?"
"Hmm, we can ask her that tomorrow," Yukino slyly answered.
"Ha ha! Good one, Yukino!" Nao and several sisters nodded. "Okay! We're voting now—unless there are anymore objections," Nao looked pointedly at Shizuru. Shizuru glanced at the other sisters and knew she was fighting a losing battle. She saw flickers of hope in almost all of their eyes, anxious to see if she was going to continue protesting.
Geez, they really like this chick. I've never seen them rally behind any rushee in such solidarity. I guess seeing her face for another day isn't going to be so bad. Shizuru sighed, gesturing for Nao to proceed with the voting process.
The girls cheered, and twenty-four hands shot into the air. Shizuru was the only dissenter, but she was far from angry. The girls looked thrilled, and that was what all great leaders wanted for their organization, happy members.
"Make it official!" the girls pleaded. Shizuru shook her head, chuckling, knowing full well what was coming. Haruka and Nao stuck their tongues out at her, triggering gales of laughter.
Yukino cleared her throat. The celebration was momentarily put on hold. "As Rush Chair, I now certify that Natsuki Kruger has received the necessary number of votes to advance to the next round!"
The celebration was back on.
"Whoo-hoo! Show us what you got, Kruger!" a girl yelled above the din.
They just had to throw it in her face, but she didn't mind it. Shizuru really hoped the girl was amazing for the sake of everyone here. Natsuki Kruger, you better be prepared tomorrow. It's your Judgment Day.
Shizuru will be doing some stalking of her own in the next chapter. It's only fair. And asking 'hard-hitting' questions.